The collection was assembled for the Ethnographic Department of the Russian Museum of Emperor Alexander III (now the Russian Museum of Ethnography) in 1907–1908 and comprises 125 items.

The initiative to assemble the collection was initiated by A.N. Samoylovich (1880–1938), a Turkologist and professor at St. Petersburg University who had visited the Turkestan region on numerous occasions and witnessed local puppet theater performances. Samoylovich's initiative was supported by K.A. Inostrantsev (1876–1941), an orientalist, one of the founders of the Ethnographic Department and head of its Caucasian-Turkestan branch. Pyotr Aleksandrovich Komarov, a renowned expert on local ethnography and native and resident of Tashkent, who headed the Northeastern Irrigation Department of the Chimkent District of the Syrdarya Region, was chosen to directly collect the collection. Komarov was tasked with collecting not only a collection of objects but also information about the history of the local puppet theater, the characters in the puppet shows, and recording the content of the plays. Judging by his correspondence with Inostrantsev (REM Archive, F. 1, Op. 2, D. 339), he worked on this and planned to publish the collected materials. However, in March 1909, the correspondence ceased, and Komarov's subsequent fate is unknown; his archive has also been lost. Nevertheless, the collection of dolls and the explanations accompanying them in the documents Komarov sent to St. Petersburg with each shipment of acquired items make the work of this connoisseur of Uzbek culture and dedicated museum worker invaluable.

The collection includes dolls and stage equipment from two traditional Uzbek puppet theaters: the glove puppet theater – dast kurchak, or kul kurchak (kurchak – “doll”; dast – Persian – “hand”; kul – Turkish – “hand”) and the marionette theater – chodir hayal (chodir, chadir – “tent, marquee”; hayal, hayol – Arabic – “fantasy, dream, ghost”), or chodir jamol (Uzbek – “beautiful tent”), as well as three musical instruments that accompanied the performances, and a risolya – a craft charter for a guild of musicians and artists. They were acquired by Komarov in Chimkent (now Shymkent, Kyrgyzstan), in the ancient Uzbek village of Sairam in the Chimkent district of the Syrdarya region, and in Tashkent. Komarov acquired characters from the kul kurchak theater, the most widespread, in all of these towns; some puppets in the collection are represented in two or three local variations. The characters from the chodir khayal theater were purchased in Tashkent, as this theater, which required a permanent venue, was less common and was performed primarily in cities and large villages, performing in teahouses or the homes of wealthy citizens.

Glove puppet theater puppets

The stage of the glove puppet theater, or hand puppet theater, consisted of a sack called a kul chodir, or bel chodir (chodir means "tent, marquee"; bel means "loin, waist"), sewn from two pieces of fabric—a shorter front piece and a longer back piece—and tied at the bottom at the puppeteer's waist. A rectangular folding wooden frame was inserted into the top edge of the sack, supported by wooden posts resting on a sash around the puppeteer's waist.

The main character in the kul kurchak theater was Palvan Kachal (Persian: pahlevan - "hero"; kechel - "bald"), similar in appearance to the Persian Palvan Kachal (Kechel), the Turkish Karagöz, the Russian Petrushka, and the heroes of European folk puppet theaters. He was a mighty man of build, rather frivolous, a carouser, a rake, but resourceful and very witty. He was usually paired with his wife or lover, Biche-khanum-oim, a temperamental, hot-tempered, and vulgar woman. In Komarov's descriptions, she also appears under other names: Aimcha-khan, Fudzhya-khan-aim, Bicha-khan-aim, Fudzha-khan, and Puchak-khan-aim. According to Komarov, the name Fudzhya, Fudzha, derives from the Chinese word "fuddkin" and testifies to the Mongol-Chinese influence on Uzbek theater, which also affected the behavior of Palvan's wife: according to the plays, she constantly argues with him, teases him, and even insults him, which would be unacceptable in the traditional life and family relationships of the local population.

These two figures formed the core of all performances, usually opening each show. This was followed by scenes featuring other characters—representatives of various professions, musicians and artists of various genres, foreign dignitaries, and even marginalized individuals—drunkards, drug addicts, thieves—through whose images social and human vices were ridiculed.

Theater puppets

Marionette theater was staged in a permanent space—a teahouse or the home of a wealthy citizen—that was temporarily transformed into a stage room using curtains to define the stage. The puppets moved, controlled by strings attached to the body, head, arms, and legs of the puppets and held together by a wooden stick (dast chuba) approximately 20 cm long. Holding the stick, the puppeteer (kurchakboz), hidden from the audience by a dark cloth below and a front curtain (chodir pardasy) above, brought the puppets onto the stage. They could appear as if from underground or descend from above.

The most popular theme for chodir hayal theater performances after the establishment of the Turkestan Governorate-General in Central Asia (1867) was a troop review, similar to military parades of the Russian army, which was held on the occasion of receptions of noble persons. Judging by the puppets in Komarov's collection, they belonged to one of these plays. The protagonist was usually a yasaul, called "Yasaul Yuldash" by Komarov, who maintained order, greeted important guests, and organized festive events. Participants in such plays included foreign and local rulers of varying ranks, in whose honor the parade was held; soldiers marching before the guests and guarding them; musicians and actors, singers and dancers entertaining the assembled crowd; and a variety of "street types," from ordinary citizens to marginalized elements (thieves, drunkards, drug addicts). Often, the puppet characters were based on historical figures from the recent past, whose memory was still vivid among the people. Negative characters in the play were accompanied by the puppeteer's caustic and, at the same time, witty remarks and comments, while the positive characters were characterized by their actions, which had great educational value.